Tag archives: SOhO

The ‘Mouthpiece’ that roared: 5Qs with Amy Nostbakken
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 17, 2019

Theater rarely comes as simultaneously raw and virtuosic as Mouthpiece, co-created and performed by the two co-artistic directors of Toronto-based Quote Unquote Collective. Amy Nostbakken and Norah Sadava have fashioned an hour-long piece that combines spoken text, strenuous movements, a cappella harmony, and vocalizations to express the inner conflict that exists within one modern woman’s […]

Harper’s Valley PSA (Post-Sculpture Art)
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 17, 2019

Peter Harper’s grandparents were musicians. They owned Folk Music Center in Claremont, which sold and repaired instruments and served as something of a gathering place for many people back in the day, and served as a pseudo daycare center for Peter when he was growing up. His mother, Ellen, is also a music lover, one […]

Jazz Ensemble Hits High Note at SOhO
By Joanne A Calitri   |   December 6, 2018

The UCSB Jazz Ensemble combos directed by Dr. Jon Nathan held a three-hour jazz lunch concert at SOhO on Sunday, December 2. The jam was sold out, with standing room only the entire time. Kudos to SOhO for packing the club on a busy Sunday afternoon during the holidays. The gig started off with the […]

Music Review: SB Jazz Collective
By Joanne A Calitri   |   September 6, 2018

Jazz. In a decade of electronic desktop computer music and musically void cover bands, we find a new local straight no chaser band, the SB Jazz Collective [SBJZ], designed by millennial and UCSB grad Andrew Williams. To get a taste of this ear candy, head over to their next gig at SOhO nightclub on Tuesday, […]

Songstress True to Form with Family Ties
By Steven Libowitz   |   July 19, 2018

Louise Goffin, daughter of the iconic songwriting duo Carole King and Gerry Goffin, has long been a singer-songwriter and producer on her own, dating back to Kid Blue,her debut album more than 40 years ago. Her style has always drawn from both her parents’ pop sensibilities, her mom’s piano-based melody-driven music, and the folk-rock of […]

Making His Case: Singer Returns to Town
By Steven Libowitz   |   July 12, 2018

Don’t talk to Peter Case about craft. The veteran singer-songwriter who started life as a power pop/punk rocker in such bands as The Plimsouls and The Nerves back in the 1970s and ’80s finds hearing that people love his “well-crafted songs” something close to an insult as it undercuts the artistry. Which seems reasonable, since […]

Shifting Shapes (and Sounds) with Sudama at SOhO
By Steven Libowitz   |   June 28, 2018

Sudama Mark Kennedy doesn’t talk a whole lot about his past, but his background includes the fact that his father, a career diplomat who had posts in Yemen, Beirut, Lebanon, and elsewhere, was one of the hostages who became famous in the Iran-Contra Crisis back in 1979. By then, Sudama was already traveling and following […]

McEuen to Greene & Sitars to Sax
By Joanne A Calitri   |   April 5, 2018

Returning to the live performing circuit but no stranger to it, Jonathan McEuen performed an “Americana Showcase” in Carpinteria on March 24. With him were Mark Corradetti [Nashville] on lead bass, Phil Salazar fiddle [Ventura], Alvino M. Bennett drums [Chicago/Burbank], Sean Ingoldsby [Ojai] bass, and Mark Searcy acoustic guitar [Ventura]. The opening set show-cased 11 […]

Spreading the Jam, One Last Time
By Steven Libowitz   |   April 5, 2018

Jeff Elliott has been running the Santa Barbara jazz jam at SOhO even before it was at SOhO, or at least before it was located where SOhO is now. The trumpeter/keyboardist/singer has led the house band/rhythm section backing up any and all musicians – professional and decidedly otherwise – who desired the chance to sit […]

Laguna Blanca Raises Funds
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   February 22, 2018

On Tuesday, February 13, Laguna families came together at SOhO Restaurant & Music Club in the name of love and music to benefit Direct Relief and all those affected by the Thomas Fire and Montecito mudslides. In addition to helping others and enjoying an evening of music by Laguna’s talented students, guests heard from Laguna […]

Time to Get Gorka’d Again
By Steven Libowitz   |   February 22, 2018

John Gorka is no stranger to the Santa Barbara music scene. The New Jersey-born, literate-but-fun singer-songwriter who started playing out in the late 1970s before moving to Minnesota in the 1990s has played at SOhO, done the Sings Like Hell thing, and made repeat visits to the Tales from the Tavern series in Santa Ynez, […]

Deep Dive from Blues Duo
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 18, 2018

Curtis Salgado harmonica and singing added color to both Robert Cray’s band and Roomful of Blues for years before he started making records on his own about 25 years ago. Five years after that, Salgado, who also has an attention-grabbing highly emotive blues voice, started playing with Portland-based guitarist Alan Hager. Just this week, the […]

Shredding the Dream: 4Qs with Alastair Greene
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 14, 2017

Santa Barbara-born, Berklee-trained blues guitarist-singer-songwriter Alastair Greene has been plying his trade professionally for 20 years now, but the last seven or so has seen him put his own trio on the back burner in favor of a lucrative role as sideman to Alan Parsons, one of progressive-rock’s progenitors, who also lives locally. But now […]

Singer Lvoff Goes to the Head(less) of the Lane
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 23, 2017

If Nicole Lvoff could swing it, she’d rather be singing jazz music full-time for a living than working in the public library system. On the other hand, if it weren’t for her library job, she might never have met Joe Woodard, another Santa Barbara who is well-known in town as an entertainment journalist (The News-Press […]